Solstice

photo violon Hardanger
Grand concert double header with Ragnhild Hemsing, Hardanger fiddle, Barokkanerne and Finnish Baroque Orchestra

Genres and textures combine in this Scandinavian summer solstice celebration: the ardent Hardanger fiddle, Norway’s Barokkanerne orchestra, Lully and Marais, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, lovingly performing a Handel cantata and some Nordic tunes.

Works by Haendel, Nagaraja, Roman, Tiensuu, Lully, Marais and Scandinavian traditional music.

Tickets

40 $ - regular, 35 $ - 65 years and older, 15 $ - students

Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel (metro Champ-de-Mars)
400 Saint-Paul East Street
Montreal QC
Canada

Notes de programme

Solstice

Grand concert and double program with Ragnhild Hemsing (Hardanger violin), Barokkanerne, and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra
Les charmes de la vie champêtre-Boucher
Artist(s) and Ensemble(s)

Image: Les charmes de la vie champêtre, by François Boucher

Meeri Pulakka, soprano

Barokkanerne
Ragnhild Hemsing, Hardanger violin
Kinga Ujszászi and Karolina Radziej, violin
Mari Giske, viola
Gunnar Hauge, cello
Gunnhild Tønder, contrabass
Jadran Duncumb, lute
with Reuven Rothman, contrabass

Finnish Baroque Orchestra
Anthony Marini and Kaisa Ruotsalainen, violin
Tuula Riisalo, viola
Tatu Ahola, cello
Anna-Maaria Oramo, harpsichord

Program
Barokkanerne (Norway)
Marin Marais (1656-1728)

Symphonie du sommeil, from Alcyone, Acte III

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 -1741)

“Spring,” Concerto in E major, op. 8, no. 1

   Allegro - Largo - Allegro

Agnes Ida Pettersen (1978-)

Fantasy for Hardanger violin and Baroque orchestra

Dario Castello (v.1600-1658)

Sonata Decima

Biagio Marini (1594-1663)

Capriccio (arr. Jadran Duncumb)

Norwegian folksongs for unaccompanied Hardanger violin
Biaggio Marini

Baletto secondo (with Hardanger violin solo)
   Entrata grave 
   Balletto Allegro  
   Gagliarda e corrente

François Couperin (1668-1733)

Forlane en rondeau, Concert royal no. 4

Biagio Marini

Balletto secondo (suite)
   Retirata - Passacalio

Antonio Vivaldi

“Winter,” Concerto in F minor, op. 8, no. 4
   Allegro non molto - Largo - Allegro

 

ENTRACTE

Finnish Baroque Orchestra
Krishna Nagaraja (1975-)

A Finnish Suite (extraits)
   Ouverture - Fugue - Lentement
   Polonaise
   Karhunpeijaispolska (Kengis Bear Polka)

Georg Friedrich Haendel (1685-1759)

Cantate Tu fedel? Tu costante? HWV 171
   Sonata - Recitative - Aria - Recitative - Aria -

   Recitative - Aria - Recitative - Aria

Folklores anonymes (arr. Anthony Marini)

Love songs from the North
   Aamulla varhain
   Björkö-polska

Bibliothèque de Gustav Düben

Two Dances
   Tuon pohjolan poikasen lempi
   Kevätyhtiön polska

Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758)

Cantata Piante amiche RO 83
   Aria (Andante largo) - Recitative - Aria (Allegro)

Lampaanpolska (La Follia)
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), arr. Francesco Geminiani (1687–1762)

Concerto grosso after Sonata op. 5, no. 12, “La Follia”

Program Notes

Genres and textures combine in this Scandinavian summer solstice celebration: the ardent Hardanger fiddle, Norway’s Barokkanerne orchestra, Lully and Marais, and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, lovingly performing a Handel cantata and some Nordic tunes.

Vivaldi's Four Seasons from 1723 is among the most famous and performed works in music history. How do Vivaldi's famous seasons sound when played on the Hardanger fiddle, filtered through the folk music tradition from Valdres in Norway? We get an answer to this musical question through the musical collaboration of Ragnhild Hemsing and Barokkanerne. 


The Hardanger fiddle tradition in Valdres, with its many embellishments, trills, ornaments and beautiful melodies, can be united with the Baroque tradition of Vivaldi through the most important thing in this music, namely the rhythmic impulse – the swing. The rhythmic impulse is equally important in both styles of music, while the shift from violin to Hardanger fiddle provides a golden opportunity to reinterpret this classic music. By giving Vivaldi's classical violin concertos a personal touch and elements of improvisation, Ragnhild's aim as a soloist is to blend together both Baroque and folk music elements. Ragnhild Hemsing has her feet planted in both classical music and the Hardanger fiddle tradition from Valdres. To further reflect the Baroque and folk music tradition, we will also perform a specially commissioned work by the Norwegian composer Agnes Ida Pettersen for hardinger fiddle and Baroque ensemble. Combined with a collection of dance movements from 16th- to 18th-century Italy and France, we believe this to be a unique concert experience.

Biographies

Meeri Pulakka, soprano

Soprano Meeri Pulakka’s versatile talent spans from early to contemporary music, and she is equally at home both on the operatic stage as well as in chamber music settings. Pulakka has appeared as soloist with the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO), Barocco Boreale, the Finnish Chamber Orchestra, the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, and Uusinta Ensemble, working with conductors such as Juha Kangas, Sakari Oramo and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Her operatic roles include Vitellia in W. A. Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, Cleopatra in G. F. Händel’s Giulio Cesare, Madame Euterpova in G. C. Menotti’s Help! Help! The Globolinks! and Hebe in J-P Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes, among others. 

Meeri Pulakka is in especially high demand as a performer and premierer of contemporary music, owing to her notably musical and precise work that stems from extensive violin and singing studies started at an early age by the ’Finnish folk music capital’ of Kaustinen. In her debut concert at the Young Artists of the Winter concert series (Helsinki Music Centre, 2019) she performed works by Jarkko Hartikainen, György Kurtág, Enno Poppe, Philippe Leroux and Erik Bergman. Pulakka’s other engagements with the music of our time include the role of Girl in Riikka Talvitie’s radio opera Queen of the Cold Land (premiered in 2017), Luciano Berio’s Sequenza III and Luigi Nono’s La fabbrica illuminata (Kallio New Music Days), Kaija Saariaho’s Lonh, Enno Poppe’s Wespe, Outi Tarkiainen’s Into the Woodland Silence (UML festival Oulu), Minna Leinonen’s Shom (Brücken festival), Olli Kortekangas’ One Night Stand (role of Kami, 2011), concert at the Villa Lante in Rome (Nuovi Spazi Musicali), Sebastian Hilli’s Arachne (New Music Theatre / Showcase 2016 Pietarsaari) as well as her enthusiastic work bringing young composers’ new works to life (Ears Open society, Creative Dialogue 2014 Santa Fé, the enoa network / Helsinki Festival 2016).

In June 2018, Meeri Pulakka graduated as Master of Music (with distinction) at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, focusing on Lied and Oratorio singing. In fall 2017, she finished her Master of Arts degree in opera singing (with distinction) at the Universität für Musik and darstellende Kunst in Vienna.

Barokkanerne

Barokkanerne is a period instrument ensemble based in Oslo. Founded in 1989, the orchestra celebrated its 25th anniversary last season with the release of the CD Totally Telemann – Music for Orchestra on the LAWO Classics label. On this CD, the orchestra is directed by Kati Debretzeni, the highly acclaimed concertmaster of Sir John Elliot Gardiner’s orchestra who also appears as soloist along with Baroque oboe virtuoso Alfredo Bernardini and other members of the group.

Since 2007, Barokkanerne has performed its own highly successful concert series in Oslo, with a number of outstanding international performers as guest leaders and soloists in addition to Bernardini and Debretzeni, among them Rachel Podger, Matthew Truscott, Emma Kirkby, David Hansen, Ketil Haugsand and Rolf Lislevand. These collaborations have spurred diversity, flexibility and an exciting dynamic much appreciated by both the players in the ensemble and its audience.

Finnish Baroque Orchestra

Founded in 1989, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra has consolidated its position within the Finnish orchestral scene. Since its inception, FiBO has collaborated with some of the foremost soloists and concertmasters of the age and performed a wide-ranging repertoire. The focus is generally on Baroque music, but the orchestra often explores works from other periods too, from early Baroque to early Romanticism. FiBO also plays contemporary music composed for period instruments, and has even commissioned several works itself. The musicians of the core ensemble often perform as chamber musicians. In its largest manifestations the orchestra can be heard playing symphony-orchestra repertoire and in opera performances.